Study on the feasibility of a tool to measure the macroeconomic impact of structural reforms

The main aim of this study is to assess the feasibility of empirical tools to study the impact of structural reforms on the macroeconomic performance in the member countries of the European Union (EU). This report presents the results of the project "Study on the feasibility of a tool to measure the macroeconomic impact of structural reforms" (ECFIN-E/2005/001) and amalgamates the findings of the two previous interim reports and the main conclusions of the workshop held in Brussels on May 11th. The main goal of the project is to determine the most reliable and robust methods to investigate the impacts of economy-wide structural reforms as well as reforms in individual markets or sectors, and to make suggestions as to how they best to implement them and possible improvements of the institutional dataset. In addition, a roadmap has been created which includes the main steps in the model-developing process, and solutions feasible even in the short term are discussed.The most relevant conclusion to be drawn from the study is that the most appropriate tool that can be developed in the short term is the integration of a DSGE model (preferably QUEST due to its in-house availability) with different satellite models, to be developed.structural reforms, product markets, labour markets, financial markets, Dreger, Art�s, Moreno, Ramos, Suri�ach

Efectos del apego, la fiabilidad y la desconfianza sobre la calidad de relación: propuesta de un modelo de medida en entornos tecnológicos.

La calidad de relación es un concepto profusamente analizado en la literatura de marketing,destacando entre tales trabajos aquellos dirigidos a establecer tanto los antecedentes como los resultados asociados a la misma.Una vez que determinado el papel jugado como antecedentes de la calidad de relación por parte delos esfuerzos relacionales y la inversión relacional percibida, se deben ampliar los estudios a otros tipos de variables, como pueden ser diversas variables cognitivas. Dentro de las mismas, el presente trabajo analiza el papel jugado por los componentes del apego (autonomía, cercanía y competencia)como antecedentes de la calidad de relación, así como el impacto que los componentes de la fiabilidad (competencia y benevolencia) tengan sobre confianza y desconfianza. Si bien se ha documentado el impacto que la calidad de relación presenta sobre las distintas manifestaciones de la lealtad, resulta interesante estudiar el efecto que puedan presentar con respecto a otras variables como el procesamiento de información negativa.El presente trabajo presenta el resultado de un pre-test llevado a cabo para depurar una escala de medición relativa a los constructos y relaciones antes planteados entre usuarios de equipos informáticos bajo entornos operativos diferentes

Heterogeneous resource management in energy hubs with self-consumption: Contributions and application example

The energy hub concept and modeling methodology are widely employed tools for solving resource conversionand storage scheduling problems. For instance, industrial clusters might benefit from determining the suitabletime to operate their facilities and to sell electricity to the public power grid, according to legal, economic orenvironmental factors. In this paper, novel elements are introduced in order to more accurately represent realplants and to reduce the amount of decision variables. The major innovation is to consider devices consuming aresource which is not related to the quantity of output produced, by attaching binary decision variables tocertain energy hub outputs. Secondly, a path vector is defined to take into account the flows of resources withinthe system instead of employing a variable for each branch between the components. The third innovationconsists of an additional vector to express the amount of output resources sold from the energy hub, includingconstraints for those resources which are exported and imported through the same medium. An extended energyhub model is first proposed and then applied to a real plant example, including multiple and heterogeneousresources and performing a comparison between days with different demands, weather conditions and electricityprices. The results obtained in the selected scenarios demonstrate a logical operation scheduling, and thereforevalidate the proposed approach

Construção de websites com ferramentas open-source: duas experiências de implementação em bibliotecas de ensino superior

As Tecnologias da Informação e da Comunicação (TIC) têm influenciado de forma inequívoca o desenvolvimento das bibliotecas à escala global. Nas últimas décadas, as TIC mudaram a dinâmica das bibliotecas permitindo a sua modernização (pelo desenvolvimento da eficiência das tarefas já realizadas), favorecendo a inovação (pela utilização das tecnologias como base para o desenvolvimento de novos serviços/técnicas) e promovendo a sua transformação (ao nível do paradigma funcional, da disponibilização de conteúdos, etc.) – criando, em suma, uma nova relação com os seus público

Engineered axon tracts within tubular biohybrid scaffolds

Injuries to the nervous system that involve the disruption of axonal pathways are devastating to the individual and require specific tissue engineering strategies. Here we analyse a cells-biomaterials strategy to overcome the obstacles limiting axon regenerationin vivo, based on the combination of a hyaluronic acid (HA) single-channel tubular conduit filled with poly-L-lactide acid (PLA) fibres in its lumen, with pre-cultured Schwann cells (SCs) as cells supportive of axon extension. The HA conduit and PLA fibres sustain the proliferation of SC, which enhance axon growth acting as a feeder layer and growth factor pumps. The parallel unidirectional ensemble formed by PLA fibres and SC tries to recapitulate the directional features of axonal pathways in the nervous system. A dorsal root ganglion (DRG) explant is planted on one of the conduit's ends to follow axon outgrowth from the DRG. After a 21 d co-culture of the DRG + SC-seeded conduit ensemble, we analyse the axonal extension throughout the conduit by scanning, transmission electronic and confocal microscopy, in order to study the features of SC and the grown axons and their association. The separate effects of SC and PLA fibres on the axon growth are also experimentally addressed. The biohybrid thus produced may be considered a synthetic axonal pathway, and the results could be of use in strategies for the regeneration of axonal tracts

Response to fungal exudates of the rhizosphere isolate Pseudomonas sp. UMAF110 involves a GGDEF/EAL domain-containing protein

Pseudomonas sp. UMAF110, isolated from rhizosphere soil in Spain, display in vitro antagonism towards the pythopathogenic fungus Rosellinia necatrix and is able grow in fungal exudates (BM-RE medium). A transposon mutant library of this strain was constructed and several mutants were selected by their reduced competitiveness in BM-RE medium. Pseudomonas sp. UMAF110-G3, which contains the transposon into a gene encoding a putative REC/PAS/GGDEF/EAL protein, was selected for further characterization. Blastn searches using the sequence of the gene interrupted by the transposon in UMAF110-G3, here called cmpA (c-di-GMP Metabolizing Protein), yielded a single positive hit (98% cover, 78% identity) with a gene from a terpene-degrading Pseudomonas sp. strain isolated from soil. Context analysis of the cmpA gene in Pseudomonas sp. UMAF110 showed that this gene is located downstream from several genes involved in flagellar motility/chemotaxis. RT-PCR experiments further confirmed that cmpA form a transcriptional unit with the che gene cluster. Expression analysis of cmpA by qRT-PCR clearly showed upregulation of this gene after transfer of Pseudomonas sp. UMAF110 cells to BM-RE medium, suggesting a role for this operon in response to fungal exudates. Deletion of cmpA in Pseudomonas sp. UMAF110 did not affect the ability of the strain to form biofilms under the conditions tested. However, overexpression of wild type CmpA in Pseudomonas putida KT2440 negatively regulated biofilm formation in this strain. Together, these results suggest that CmpA could be involved in signal transduction pathways regulating flagellar motility/chemotaxis in response to fungal exudates.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

An Innovative, Green Cascade Protocol for Grape Stalk Valorization with Process Intensification Technologies

Valorization of agri-food residues to produce bio-based platform chemicals will enhance the transition to the bio-economy era. To this end, a sustainable process has been developed for the overall valorization of grape stalks (GS) according to a circular approach, starting from the lignin fraction to further deal with the cellulose-rich residue. This non-conventional protocol fully adheres to green chemistry principles, exploiting the so-called enabling technologies—mainly ultrasound and microwaves—for energy-saving innovative processes. Firstly, ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE, 40 kHz, 200 W) demonstrated to be an excellent technique for GS delignification combined with natural deep eutectic solvents (NaDESs). Delignification enables isolation of the pertinent lignin framework and the potential to obtain a polyphenol-rich liquid fraction, focusing on the valorization of GS as source of bioactive compounds (BACs). Among the NaDESs employed, the combination of choline chloride (ChCl) and levulinic acid (LevA) (ChLevA) presented noteworthy results, enabling a delignification higher than 70%. LevA is one of the top-value biobased platform chemicals. In this work, a flash microwave (MW)-assisted process was subsequently applied to the cellulose-rich fraction remained after delignification, yielding 85% LevA. The regeneration of this starting compound to produce ChLevA can lead to a further biomass delignification cycle, thus developing a new cascade protocol for a full valorization of GS